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Vikki’s Story

Welcome to our CaringBridge website created for Vikki Parsons. We are going to keep this site updated with the lastest news about her and her treatment. Start with MY STORY.

Please visit often for information, sign the 'guestbook' and feel free to leave 'well wishes'! Feel free to SHARE this site with anyone who wants to be in the loop.

Michael and Vikki have so appreciated the outpouring of love, prayers and support.

As many of you now know, Vikki Parsons was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer some weeks ago. While she had been having increasingly difficult back pain, and stomach distress, the diagnosis was a shock. By the time the Drs knew what was going on, her bile ducts had stopped functioning and she had to endure several procedures back-to-back to correct this serious problem. The Drs also began working closely with her to manage her pain and digestive symptoms, nausea being the worst. After over a week in the hospital, tt was a relief to be able to go home because as everyone knows, there is no rest in the hospital!

Mike and Vikki decided that their best option was for Vikki to undergo the most aggressive chemotherapy available. Their hope was that her tumor might become operable. Her daughter, Kelli and 6 year old granddaughter, Sydney, decided to move temporarily into Mike and Vikki's home to provide care and encouragement.

The chemotherapy she received every two weeks was harsh. Really harsh. And each successive round required more recovery time. But, she bounced back and had several days between where she was able to experience a little bit of normal. It was not the normal from before, but she was/is able to get down to the store, shop, dine, and generally enjoy her family and friends during her better days.

This week, after 4 chemotherapy treatments, Mike and Vikki learned that she has responded to the chemotherapy well enough to be a 'marginal' surgical candidate. What does this mean?

The surgery is called a 'Whipple' procedure. The surgeon told them it was 'brutal' and if you look it up online, you'll understand why. But it does provide some hope. Her oncologist and her surgeon came up with a plan they think is best chance for the most positive outcome. The plan is for Vikki to undergo 2 more chemo rounds (Aug. 9 and Aug. 23rd) which they hope will further shrink the tumor so that surgery can be performed the middle of September. We expect the next two rounds of chemotherapy to be especially challenging and hope that she continues to have some 'normal' days in between. We pray that the chemotherapy will continue to shrink her tumor so that the surgery will go as successfully and as smoothly as possible.